Streaker Ramblings - Elford Numbum Races 9 & 10 - 02.02.2020

Dark grey skies, a bit of breeze at the front (east side) of the house but not raining, as we set off to Piddimghoe.

The forecast – XC Weather – for Piddinghoe was 25 knots. On arrival Alan had to patch up a bit of missing gel coat on his D Zero but it looked as though it might be sailable so he unpacked the boat and took it to the top of the westerly launch ramp. There was not a lot of activity but eventually six boats got prepared to go afloat., three Laser Radials, on full rig Laser, an Oppy and Alan’s D Zero.

 The wind had begun to increase and there was whistling in the rigging of the school boats and Alan rigged and got the boat into the water but then, as it was gusting violently decided against going afloat and de-rigged. Jake Briggs (Oppy) did go afloat but soon went back ashore as he felt it was too much for him, a wise decision for one so young/small.

The RO for the day, Ed Thorburn (Finn)  assisted by Bill Wates (Laser full rig) and with David Hitchens (Laser full rig) with Sam Briggs as safety boat crew, Set a complex course, as shown below, with several gybes and some fearful reaches.

At the gun for race 9 of the series Thomas Harland-Smith (Laser Radial) hit the line first and to windward of Lewis Johns (Laser Radial) with Mike Rosier (Laser Radial) somewhat behind but third to go. 

Sean Beevers (Laser full rig) was last to start and a long way back. 

Up the beat towards the mark in the south west corner, off the clubhouse Thomas was struck by a big gust and almost went into irons making an unexpected tack and near capsize, allowing Lewis to round ahead of him. 

Thomas regained his composure and still rounded ahead of Mike. Shortly afterwards Lewis had his first capsize on the broad reach along the west bank on his way to the mark off the Fisherman’s Bay. 

 

This allowed Thomas to get into the lead but after the next windward leg towards the Island he nearly went for a dip. The youngsters were enjoying some incredible reaching on the legs towards the Island. 

Mike found it interesting too as he went ahead of Lewis. It was not too long however before Thomas took his first dip and then Mike did likewise and Lewis had another pond bottom survey.

Those ashore, viewing, lost count of the swims – as did the participants. 

By the end of the first lap Thomas was leading Lewis by 40 odd seconds and Mike was a good minute further back. In the meanwhile Sean had decided that he was not enjoying the sailing and came ashore and packed up. So there were just three boats racing, positions and times in each lap as below:-

Race 9

Posn	Class	Sail No	Lap 1	e time	Lap 2	e time	Lap 3	e time	Lap 4	e time	Posn
1	Laser Radial	72341	T Harland-Smith	7.18	T Harland-Smith	12.10	T Harland-Smith	19.21	T Harland-Smith	30.09	1
2	Laser Radial	179808	L  Johns	7.59	L  Johns	19.09	L  Johns	27.19	L  Johns	Finished	2
3	Laser Radial	61663	M Rosier	8.56	M Rosier	21.56	M Rosier	29.24	M Rosier	Finished	3
4	Oppy	5902	J Briggs	DNS							4
5	D Zero	0	A Simmons	DNS							5
6	Laser	46237	S Beevers	RtTD							6

Laps 2 and 3  were a further mixture of awesome reaches and frequent views of the bottoms of the hulls. With Thomas continuing to hold the lead from Lewis with Mike bringing up the rear. The Final lap Lap 4 had an outright win for Thomas with Lewis second and Mike third. R9 - 02/02/2020 Rank Fleet Boat Class SailNo Club HelmName CrewName PY Finish Elapsed Laps Corrected Points 1 Cadet Laser Radial 72341 NSSC Thomas Harland-Smith 1145 30.09 4 0.26.20 1.0 2 Cadet Laser Radial 179808 NSSC Lewis Johns 1145 27.19 3 0.31.49 2.0 3 Laser 122461 NSSC David Hitchins 1099 OOD 3.0 3 Finn 595 NSSC Ed Thorburn 1051 OOD 3.0 3 Laser Radial 61663 NSSC Mike Rosier 1145 29.24 3 0.34.14 3.0 6 DEVOTI D-ZERO 244 Lancing SC Alan Simmons 1029 DNS 42.0 6 Cadet Optimist 5902 NSSC Jake Briggs 1655 DNS 42.0 Race 10 was held over the same course with the same three starters as finished race 9 and at the gun Thomas was first across the line with Mike just astern and Lewis with a bit of catching up to do. Mike had a near wipe out up the beat towards the mark off the clubhouse but just about survived whilst losing some distance on Thomas. The broad reach along the west shore and the subsequent close reach from the mark off the Fisherman’s Bay  were tippy and exhilarating in the same measure but all survived the first lap with Thomas  pulling rapidly away from Mike and Lewis with the latter going ahead of Mike by a minute as shown below:- Race 10 Posn Class Sail No Lap 1 e time Lap 2 e time Lap 3 e time Lap 4  e time Lap 5 e time Posn 1 Laser Radial 72341 T Harland-Smith 6.54 T Harland-Smith 12.24 T Harland-Smith 17.59 T Harland-Smith 23.50 T Harland-Smith 30.29 1 2 Laser Radial 179808 L  Johns 8.01 L  Johns 14.07 L  Johns 20.10 L  Johns 26.30 L  Johns 34.53 2 3 Laser Radial 61663 M Rosier 9.00 M Rosier 15.02 M Rosier 29.24 M Rosier 29.18 M Rosier Finished 3 Lap 2 saw Thomas increase his lead from just over a minute to over a minute and a half from Lewis and he pulling away slightly from Mike. The same situation held for laps 3 and 4 with all three taking a dip, or nearly so, at some point with Mike having an extended on near the Fisherman,s Bay in his fourth, and final, lap. Lap 5 led to a convincing win for Thomas nearly five minutes ahead of Lewis with Mike having already been finished. R10 - 02/02/2020 Rank Fleet Boat Class SailNo Club HelmName CrewName PY Finish Elapsed Laps Corrected Points Cadet Laser Radial 72341 NSSC Thomas Harland-Smith 1145 30.29 5 Laser 122461 NSSC David Hitchins 1099 OOD Cadet Laser Radial 179808 NSSC Lewis Johns 1145 34.53 5 Finn 595 NSSC Ed Thorburn 1051 OOD Laser Radial 61663 NSSC Mike Rosier 1145 29.18 4 Alan reckons that age confers one useful benefit, wisdom, meaning that he knows when to go afloat and when not – today being the latter choice to take. It was decidedly windy with some really nasty gusts meaning a lot of swimming, a lot of the time. Fine for young , fit and fearless Cadets – not so good several year on as Mike discovered when sailing a single hander instead of crewing a two man boat.